Furnace-casing



N. FROST.

FURNACE CASING.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-16,1920- 1,394,821. Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

5 SHEETSSHEET I.

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WITNESSES IIVVE/VTOR @414 NATHANIEL PDQST BY 7 t d 4 N. FROST.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H I m l H 1 m l l/VVE/VTOR HATHANIELPKOST,

A TTORNEYS N. FROST.

FURNACE CASING.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.I6, 1920.

Patented 001. 25, 1921 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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FURNACE CASING. APPLICATION FILED 050.16. 1920.

Patented 06th 25, 1921'.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4 5v WIN/E8858 INVENTOR A 1101mm N. FROST.

FURNACE CASING- APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16. 1920.

Patented (m 25 5 SHEETSSHEET 5 Y NNE m/vmroa WITNESSES A TTORNEVS them in brick work.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL FROST, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN FOUNDRY & FURNACE COMPANY, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

FURNACE-CASING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed December 16, 1920. Serial No. 431,190.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL FRos'r, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bloomington, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace- Casings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to furnaces for heating air to be circulated through rooms in a building, and more specifica ly to the casing for confining the air to be heated which is supplied under pressure, to conserve the heated air, and to prevent or reduce to a minimum leakage or radiation from said casing.

The present invention is designed to be used in connection with furnaces of the character forming the subject matter of the a plicants prior Patents 1,018,967, granted ebruary 27, 1912, and 1,201,033 granted October 10, 1916, though, obviously it may not be confined to such specific instances.

It has been customary in the use of these furnaces and others of this general character either singly or in batteries, to incase The modern practice in the use of these types of heaters is to install them in the basement of school buildings, churches or other large buildings, and usually there are five or six arranged in'av battery while sometimes there are only one or two. In all modern installation a fan or blower is used to bring in the outside air and force it around the heaters through the brick casing and out into the ducts.

It has long been known that certain heat losses occurred through the use of brick casings by the heated air escaping or radiating into the basement where it is not needed or desired. Y

It is an object of the present invention to provide a casing for furnaces which will prevent loss of the heated air into the base ment through leakage or radiation.

Another object is to provide a casing constructed of sheet metal and asbestos or other insulating material made up in panels or sections readily bolted together, to increase the transmission of heat units to air.

Another object is to provide a furnace casin Inade sectional for convenience in handing, shipment and manufacture, that may be readily assembled, and taken apart, when necessity arises for repairs or otherwise.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts as will be hereinafter fully described and pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a section through the cellar or basement of a building showing a side elevation of my improvementas installed.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the top wall of casing.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the opposite side of casing to that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4' is a rear elevation of the casing.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the furnace installation and embodying my casing.

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section showing in outline a battery of three furnaces and radiators.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail section on line 7-7 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective showing in section details of joints between adjacent side or top section.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional detail of the rear wall of casing showing fitting of smoke flue.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged section taken on line 10-1O of Fig. 4.

F ig. 11 is an enlarged section showing joint of front furnace wall and front plenum wall of the casing.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged section showing the joints of the top of easing where supported on T-beams.

Fig. 13 is a section taken on line 1313 of Fig. 5.

As already mentioned my improvements are to be used in connection with furnaces arranged singly or in battery formation and in the present instance are shown as used with a battery of three of the horizontal type of furnace and radiator; these are indicated in outline in Fig. 6, the plenum chamber being designated generally by reference A and the air forcing apparatus being designated generally by the reference character B, and which apparatus may 1nclude a fan or blower driven by an electric motor the air being drawn into a flue passing through a wall in the basement or furnace room.

The front wall of the furnace and radiator installation constitutes the lower front wall C of the casing and is made of a single thickness of suitable cast metal and provided with the usual door openings, manholes, etc.; this front wall is also provided at its upper and side edges with outwardly projecting flanges c a respectively while the upper edge is further provided with the inwardly projecting flange 0 supported and strengthened by the lintel c as plainly shown in Fig. 11.

The front wall of the plenum chamber which is supported on the flanges at the upper edge of the furnace front wall C is composed of panels or sections. of which the entire casing is made, and these sections are characterized by being formed of two thicknesses of sheet metal formed in the general shape of pans, said sheets being spaced apart and suitable insulating material, preferably corrugated asbestos board for air cells, placed between said sheets. The joints between said panels or sections, and between sections and the other parts of the furnace constitute an important element of my invention and I will now proceed to describe them more in detail.

As the panels or sections romprising the side and top walls of the casing are similar I will describe the formation of one side panel. an enlarged section of one of which is shown in Fig. 8. Each of these panels includes steel sheets D and E spaced apart; the sheet D is provided with an outwardly projecting bolting member which is made as follows: an angle iron D is introduced between the sheet D and the insulating filling X one web of the angle iron lying inside adjacent sheet D and spot welded thereto; the lower end of the sections are closed by the strips of sheet steel F which are bent to lie against the sheet E, spot welded thereto, then beneath the lower edge thereof, then bent inwardly forming V-shaped groove F then continued across the space between walls and a ainst the lower surface of the angle iron D with which itis coextensive and to which it is spot welded and provided with bolt holes, as is also the angle iron. The opposite ends of each of these sections, that is, inside sections or panels of the sides and top are fashioned as follows: Strips of sheet steel F are disposed over this end and bent against the outer face of sheet E and spot welded thereto; then passing across bent upwardly forming a V-tongue F passing along and over the angle iron D with which it is coextensive and spot welded thereon. This angle iron with its welded V strip is then provided with bolt openings as in the other end of the panel or section;

of the asbestos filling and the angle or apex of the V.

As the tongue and groove connection between the panels by virtue of its shape makes a very tight. joint and the fact that the sheets of steel that are V-tongued or grooved are tightly drawn together by the bolts passing through the angle irons, it will be seen that practically an air tight joint is secured which will prevent leakage of air within the casing, which it should be noted, is under pressure.

In Fig. 11 the connection of the front furnace wall and the front wall of the plenum chamber is shown, and this front plenum wall is composed of panels having outer walls G and inner walls G; at the lower end of wall G an angle iron G is spot welded to the wall; a steel sheet G is welded to the wall G then bent across the lower edge of the panel beneath the angle iron closing the space between the outer and inner walls at the lower end; this sheet of steel is spot welded to the angle iron G with which it is coextensive, and then the whole provided with bolt openings by which the panels are connected to the upper end of the front wall C of the furnace. In Fig. 7 is shown the upper ends of these plenum-front panels and their connection with the top panels which constitute the top of the casing; in this construction it will be seen that the joint is practically the same as that before described in connection with their inner panels of the sides and tops. Thus, to the upper end of wall G is applied the sheet of steel Gr which is bent to form the V-tongue G and then continued along top of angle iron Gr welded at the end of wall Gr.

The panel of the top which is connected to thgipanel just described, comprises lower wall upper wall H the lower wall being crimped to form a V groove into which the V tongue G is to fit; this lower wall is continued outwardly beneath the angle iron H welded to the sheet of steel closing the space between the walls at the ends, this sheet H itself being spot welded to another angle iron H welded to the upper wall H.

In Fig. 12 I have illustrated the joint between adjacent inner panels of the top showing how T beams are used to support the top at the joints, the T-beam taking the place of angle irons as on the opposite side; the joints at these supporting points are same as that illustrated in Fig. 8, the wall H having the steel sheet H welded.at the end and bent over the end forming a V-groove and then welded to angle iron H In Fig. 4 is illustrated the rear end of the casing and it will be noted that the panels in the rear wall are provided with Seetions having a circular opening to receive the smoke flues; these sections.comprise inner sheet J and outer sheet J with asbestos between them; the ends are made the same as the panels of the side and top walls, that is with V tongues J 2 and grooves J 3 in opposite ends and the angle irons J and J applied as in the other forms.

In Fig. 13 is shown manner of joining the cast metal front of furnace with a side wall panel; the inner wall K has strip K bent across the end of space between the walls K and K, and the angle iron K welded within the edges of wall K is welded to the bent sheet K over end of K; the angle iron K with the welded sheet constitute a flange which is bolted to the side extension C of the front wall.

In Fig. 10 is shown a joint at the rear corners, this joint being identical with the joint between a top panel with the front wall of the plenum chamber. The parts composing this joint are designed as follows: the rear panel is composed of the outer wall L and inner wall L both of sheet steel, the

inner wall being bent to form the tongue L which then extends outwardly beyond the end and is spot welded to the angle iron L welded to the steel strip L across the space between the walls L and L, the strip being in turn welded to the angle iron L welded to the outer wall L forming a brace and support. The side panel connected at this 'oint comprises the outer wall of sheet steel 1 and inner wall M; to the inner wall M is welded the steel strip M which is bent across the end space between walls M and ,M' bent to form a V groove M then extended beyond the wall M, to which is welded the angle iron M and then welded to said angle iron M the two then being provided with bolt holes b 'means of which the angle irons L and l are tightly bolted together.

It will be noted by aninspection of Fig. 10 that an air space is formed by forming the V tongue and indeed in all places where this V bend is made forming a tongue that such an air space is left within the panel between that wall and the asbestos. filling. It will be noted that'when in use the heating plants when single or in battery of two or more contain within the casing air under pressure and the casing is so constructed as to avoid leakage.

By using a sectional insulated steel casing as herein described, the wor]; ings can be done at the factory making the panels up in suitable sizes and in quantity ready for easy handling and this is manifestly of great importance as many times, warm air heating plants are to be erected at places remote from cities or railroads or the supply factory. At such places, without the casings having been prepared in accordance with my invention, no facilities would be available for handling or installing an insulated steel casing.

By using standard sections or panels, large quantities can be made up at once and transported over the country, thus increasing production, reducing the costs, and in general improving the art .to which this invention belongs.

The ducts to convey the heated air within casing to the rooms to be heated may be placed in both sides of the casing or they may put in onlg one side as illustrated in the drawlngs, see in Figs. 1 and 6.

I claim:-

1. A panel for sectional furnace casings consisting of a pair of steel sheets spaced apart constituting inner and outer walls, and having a heat insulating filling therebetween, angle irons welded within the panels at each end to the outer walls and projecting outwardly and provided with bolt openings, a strip of sheet steel welded to the outer face of the inner wall of each panel extending across the space betweenthe inner and outer walls of the panels at each end, said strips crimped or corrugated to form complementary V-tongues and grooves at opposite ends, said strips welded to the aforesaid angle irons and coextensive therewith.

2. The combination with a warm air heater of a sectional casing, the front wall of the heater and casing being coincident, said casing further including a plenum chamber above the heater, the side and rear walls of the casing and the front side and top walls of the plenum chamber consisting of a plurality of interiorly insulated double walled sections or panels, adjacent panels or sections jointed in interlocked relation, and steel beams within the plenum chamber supporting the sections of the top wall at the joints thereof.

NATHANIEL FROST.

on the cas- 

